richiemoe
Member
My grandparents gave me a 1987 Sea Ray Seville 16'. Grandpa had skin cancer and the boat sat for two years. After one year, the UV rays ripped the cover and it go water inside. It was on a trailer in their yard, drain plug was out. I could see that the floor was once patched and that patch was pulling up..... I drove the boat home from Florida to Michigan, where the boat has sat in my garage for a year. I just started on the floor and it is dry rotted in many placed, and dark, almost still damp in others, where the wood falls apart the shopvac cleans it up better than I can pull it up..... The transom seems solid, though! It has a 2002 Mercury 115hp Salt Water outboard. I climbed on the motor and bounced, the transom is solid!!! But the whole interior floor is bad. And the seats need new upholstery. Do I pull up the floor, put down 3/4' marine plywood, cover with fiberglass and carpet, and enjoy for a few years? My kids are young, fancy is not my first priority.... haha But I assume $500-$1k to have the motor looked over, $1k for floor boards/fiberglass/carpet and quite a bit for seats, but lets say we just cover them for a year. So at least $2k in repairs and LOTS of time with the floor.
After pulling up some of the floor, I got looking on fb marketplace, as now is the time for deals in Michigan, when people don't want to store stuff..... I found a 2003 Silverline 1700 (17') with a '97 Yamaha 115hp, for $5,700, garage stored. I hope to talk them down to $5k. Do I just try to sell my trailer and motor for $1,500-$2k, and see if a salvage yard will take the Sea Ray boat? It floats, the outside looks fine!
My only concern with the Silverline is that in an invoice that I got from the marina that they used, the bilge pump went bad and "40-50 gallons of water was pumped out", per technician notes. Kind of a lot, but not really a lot.... Does it just depend on how long the water was in the boat? The rest of the invoices show that they have taken great care of it! New upholstery! Everything looks clean! The pictures are sharp! The middle folding window is missing from the pictures.... The marina winterized it, so I won't be able to hear it run... The floor has been redone with boards, which looks great! I asked if they re-did the floors, and they said they just pulled up the carpet and put down boards, to look good with the new upholstery. Which, looks SHARP! They have told me the last two places that they had work done on the boat, and called to have the invoices sent to me. So I have no reason to not believe them. But it looks like they did the bilge pump themselves. Although, the inspection invoice only says water was pumped out and bilge needs to be replaced, it didn't say anything about water damage...
As i'm writing this, I found a place that will inspect it for $400. I assume this is a no brainer? I'm probably overthinking this, but this is our first "big cash purchase" since we paid off all student loans and debt, minus our home. I just want to make the right choice.... So selling the old boat, I think the new boat will cost about $3k, out of pocket. I'm going to look at the Silverline boat tonight. It has been on fb marketplace for 22 weeks, and they reduced from $7k to $5,600. $5,200 with them paying for the inspection? $5k cash?
After pulling up some of the floor, I got looking on fb marketplace, as now is the time for deals in Michigan, when people don't want to store stuff..... I found a 2003 Silverline 1700 (17') with a '97 Yamaha 115hp, for $5,700, garage stored. I hope to talk them down to $5k. Do I just try to sell my trailer and motor for $1,500-$2k, and see if a salvage yard will take the Sea Ray boat? It floats, the outside looks fine!
My only concern with the Silverline is that in an invoice that I got from the marina that they used, the bilge pump went bad and "40-50 gallons of water was pumped out", per technician notes. Kind of a lot, but not really a lot.... Does it just depend on how long the water was in the boat? The rest of the invoices show that they have taken great care of it! New upholstery! Everything looks clean! The pictures are sharp! The middle folding window is missing from the pictures.... The marina winterized it, so I won't be able to hear it run... The floor has been redone with boards, which looks great! I asked if they re-did the floors, and they said they just pulled up the carpet and put down boards, to look good with the new upholstery. Which, looks SHARP! They have told me the last two places that they had work done on the boat, and called to have the invoices sent to me. So I have no reason to not believe them. But it looks like they did the bilge pump themselves. Although, the inspection invoice only says water was pumped out and bilge needs to be replaced, it didn't say anything about water damage...
As i'm writing this, I found a place that will inspect it for $400. I assume this is a no brainer? I'm probably overthinking this, but this is our first "big cash purchase" since we paid off all student loans and debt, minus our home. I just want to make the right choice.... So selling the old boat, I think the new boat will cost about $3k, out of pocket. I'm going to look at the Silverline boat tonight. It has been on fb marketplace for 22 weeks, and they reduced from $7k to $5,600. $5,200 with them paying for the inspection? $5k cash?